The Peace Offering

Feature 2 –November 2015 – Grace & Truth Magazine

The Peace Offering –
The Celebration Of Peace

“And, having made peace through the blood of His cross ...” — Colossians 1:20 KJV

The first seven chapters of Leviticus give in detail five different types of sacrifices or offerings that were to be offered by the children of Israel. As we compare them with the New Testament we see that each one presents something of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what God delights to speak about in His Word!

Overview Of The Offerings
These five offerings can be divided into two classes: the sweet savor offerings (the burnt, meal and peace offerings) and the non-sweet savor offerings (the sin and trespass offerings). In the former, Christ as bringing glory to God is emphasized – a sweet savor or odor ascending to God. In the latter, Christ as dealing with sin is the prominent thought, and accordingly there was no sweet savor to God (except in the fat burned on the altar, 4:31).

The offerings present to us different aspects of the work of the Lord Jesus in His life and death, along with the results both for God and for us. They also give a picture of what we can bring to our God and Father and the Lord Jesus in speaking of His work during our worship. As we learn more of the blessed Lord and His work through these offerings, we will have greater material for the sacrifice of praise, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name (Heb. 13:15).

Burnt Offering: The burnt offering presents the Lord Jesus as completely devoted to the Father and the Father’s will, even to death. The whole animal was burned on the altar. “Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of Me, I delight to do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy law is within My heart” (Ps. 40:7-8). There had never been a man completely devoted to God and to doing His will – until the Son of God became Man. Christ’s dealing with sin is not the prominent thought in this offering. Instead, it focuses on what Christ was personally to the Father. A verse in the New Testament that brings before us the character of the burnt offering is: “But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave Me commandment, even so I do” (Jn. 14:31). Also consider: “And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour” (Eph. 5:2). The gospel of John especially presents the Lord Jesus as the burnt offering.

Meal or Grain Offering: There was no blood shed with the meal (also called “meat”) offering. It pictures the perfect life of the Lord Jesus that was so pleasing to the Father. John 17:4 sets the meal offering before us: “I have glorified Thee on the earth: I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do.” The perfect life of the Lord Jesus as the true meal offering is seen in all four gospels.

Peace Offering: In the peace or “fellowship” offering we see the work of Christ removing every barrier to our enjoyment of fellowship with God and His with us. There was a time when we were far off from God, but now we have been brought near through the precious blood of Christ (Eph. 2:13). We were at enmity with God; now we have been reconciled (Col. 1:21). There was a portion in the peace offering for God, the priest, the offerer and his family. Every one had a part.

The gospel of Luke has often been called “the gospel of the peace offering,” and in chapters 14 and 15 especially we see the results of the peace the Lord made at the cross. Remember the words of the father to his servants about the returned prodigal: “Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry” (Lk. 15:22-23). To eat together is a type of fellowship. The fatted calf which the father and his returned son were to share is a picture of the peace offering.

Sin Offering: Both the sin offering and the trespass offering had to do with sin, but they are different. The sin offering pictures the work of the Lord Jesus as dealing with the defilement and uncleanness that sin causes. The trespass offering was for the guilt of specific sins that had been committed against God and man. Sin has made us unfit for God’s holy presence.

God in righteousness must judge everything in us that is contrary to His holy nature. How else could He bring us into His presence? The apostle Paul gives us the answer: “For He hath made Him, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21). The Lord Jesus was made what we were – sin – in order that we might be made what He is – the righteousness of God. What does this mean? That in Christ, God can find nothing more to condemn in us because He has condemned it all in His blessed Son on the cross (Rom. 8:1,3). The Lord Jesus as the true sin offering is emphasized in the gospel of Mark.

Trespass Offering: When we are saved it is generally Christ as the trespass offering that we first understand. We have done many bad things, and Christ has paid in full the debt that we owed to God. “Debt” is emphasized in the trespass offering – we see that in addition to a ram being offered as sacrifice, the “fifth part” had to be added. So the Lord could say prophetically, “I restored that which I took not away” (Ps. 69:4). He paid for our sins and has glorified God about them. In other words, He displayed what God is in His holiness in judging sin, but also in His love as saving the sinner. The gospel of Matthew, which often has the thought of debt (for example: Matthew 18:23-35), is the gospel that presents the Lord Jesus as the true trespass offering. Both Matthew and Mark record the cry of the Lord as being forsaken of God when He was made sin for us (Mt. 27:46; Mk. 15:34).

The Peace Offering In More Detail
Leviticus 3: As we have said the peace offering presents the work of the Lord Jesus as removing every barrier to fellowship with God: He has “made peace through the blood of His cross” (Col. 1:20). It also shows us the celebration of that peace which now exists between a forgiven believer and a holy God.

In Leviticus 3 we see God’s side of the offering particularly brought before us, in addition to the price that had to be paid for us to have peace with God and be brought into fellowship with Him. This is why there is an emphasis on the fat and the blood, both of which were all for God. The fat speaks of the energy of the animal, reminding us that in the Lord Jesus all His energies were wholly devoted to do the will of His Father: “I do always those things that please Him” (Jn. 8:29). The prophet Isaiah tells us that He set His face as a flint (50:7) and He could not be turned aside from doing that will. Notice that God says that the fat of the offering is His food (Lev. 3:11,16). How great the delight the Father has found in His Son and in the work that He has done!

The blood, of course, reminds us of the finished work of the Lord Jesus that has satisfied God and cleansed us from our sins. In the New Testament, His blood is called “precious” (1 Pet. 1:19), and we can understand why God was very jealous in the Old Testament for any misuse of blood – even in the animals that pictured the work of His blessed Son.

Three different kind of animals could be offered as a peace offering:

1. A bullock (or ox) is an animal of great strength. It reminds us of the words of the Lord Jesus in John 10:18: “I have power to lay it [My life] down, and I have power to take it again.”
2. A lamb is meek and gentle. It reminds us of the willingness of the Lord Jesus to give His life for us. He is called the “Lamb of God” (Jn. 1:29,36) and He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter (Isa. 53:7).
3. A goat was often used as a sin offering (see Lev. 4:23, 23:19) and may remind us of the Lord Jesus as the One able to deal with sin and finish the work the Father had given Him to do (Jn. 17:4).

Leviticus 7: In Leviticus 3 we especially have God’s side of the peace offering brought before us. Now in chapter 7 we have our side (vv.11-34). We find the privileges and responsibilities that belong to us as those brought into fellowship with the Father and the Son as a result of His work. While in chapter 3 we saw that the blood and the fat were all for God, we discover in chapter 7 that there was a portion for His people. The priest, the one who brought the sacrifice and his whole family had a portion to eat of the peace offering.

We find that there were two reasons that a peace offering could be brought. The first was for thanksgiving (vv.12-15). So today we Christians are to be characterized by thanksgiving: “Be ye thankful ... giving thanks to God and the Father by Him” (Col. 3:15,17). “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Th. 5:18). Secondly, it could be brought for a vow (vv.16-18). We do not, of course, make vows today (Mt. 5:33-37), but for us it would speak of a time of spiritual exercise in our Christian lives, perhaps when going through a trial or waiting in earnest on our Father for an answer to our prayer. It is generally through such times that we grow the most as believers. Having passed through that time we have something to offer our Father of what we have learned in a fresh way, in appreciation of His beloved Son.

Rules For Eating The Offering
We have said that the law of the peace offering brings before us our side of privilege and responsibility as those brought into fellowship with the Father and the Son. This is strikingly shown in the rules that applied to the eating of the peace offering.

First of all, the offering was to be eaten the same day, or the in the case of a vow, by the second day (vv.15-17). What does this mean for us? At least one suggestion is that our fellowship with the Father and the Lord Jesus must be fresh. We may enjoy wonderful thoughts of the Lord Jesus on Sunday, but that alone will not sustain us in fellowship with the Lord throughout the week. Every day we should be finding fresh treasures in the Word of God and fresh reasons to praise and worship our Father and the Lord Jesus. As the offering for a vow could be eaten an extra day, so we may be sustained longer by thoughts of the Lord we have gained through a special time of spiritual exercise.

Seeing how He has brought us through a time of trial may well cause our hearts to overflow with praise for some time. But we must still return to the Word for fresh thoughts or even this praise will eventually grow stale. We do not want our praise and worship to be a form. Even an unbeliever can follow a form. We need our hearts filled daily with a fresh sense of His worthiness and glory.

Next we see the delicate character of this fellowship. It is interrupted very easily by uncleanness. This is something that we all do well to consider. There are three aspects to this instruction:

1. If the flesh of the peace offering itself touched anything unclean it was to be burned – not eaten at all (v.19). Let us be careful not to mix holy thoughts of our blessed Lord and His work with the unclean things found in this world (1 Jn. 2:15-17).
2. Personal uncleanness prohibited one from eating the peace offering: “having his uncleanness upon him” (v.20). Let us not think lightly of sin. It is sad but true that as believers we still have a sin nature (the flesh). So through lack of watchfulness we sometimes allow it to work, and then we commit sins. If we are conscious of sin in our lives let us immediately confess and forsake it. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn. 1:9). As I often heard growing up, let us keep short accounts with the Lord.
3. A person would be unable to eat the peace offering if he contacted uncleanness from outside (v. 21). We must be careful about our associations as well as being sure that we are personally clean. Then we will be free to enjoy the peace offering – in other words, fellowship with the Father and the Son (2 Cor. 6:14 – 7:1).

Portions Marked Out For Us
Every part of the animal offered as a peace offering was eaten except for the fat and the blood, which were reserved for God alone. Two special portions, though, are marked out for us in some detail. First, there was the breast of the animal (Lev. 7:29-31). We believe that this would speak of the love of the Lord Jesus that led Him to offer Himself up to God without spot (Heb. 9:14). We can think of His love for the Father: “That the world may know that I love the Father” (Jn. 14:31). He also loved the Church and gave Himself for it (Eph. 5:25). And fellow believer, He loved both you and me individually too: “the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal. 2:20)!

The other portion of the offering specially marked out was the shoulder (Lev. 7:32-34). This would speak of the strength of Christ. We read that the Father loves the Son and has given everything into His hand (Jn. 3:35). The work of the cross was put into His hands and He has finished that work. Beloved fellow Christian, the Father has put you and me into His hands, and He is strong enough to carry us through all our trials and difficulties here and bring us to the Father’s house! “Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy” (Jude 24).

We close with the words of the apostle John: “Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.” (1 Jn. 1:3-4).

By Kevin Quartell